.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Illinois Public Media

The Irish Way Becoming American in the Multiethnic City

James R. Barrett, Ph.D., Professor of History, History Department, University of Illinois

Host: Celeste Quinn

Historian James Barrett says America’s first ethnic group, its first immigrants, were the Irish. As such, they laid the foundation for the immigrants who followed. That foundation was at once hostile and welcoming. Barrett says, in the end, it led to a new sense of American identity that continues to influence today.